I am so excited to have Mary Burton here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight, Excerpt and Giveaway.
Thanks Mary and Source Books for allowing me to join The Last Move Blog Tour!
Please take it away, Mary!
About the Book Title: The Last Move
Author: Mary Burton
Release Date: September 19, 2017
Genre: Romantic Suspense/Thriller
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Summary
Catching monsters helps FBI agent Kate Hayden keep her nightmares at bay. Now an urgent call brings her back to San Antonio, the scene of her violent past. A brutal new murder shows hallmarks of a serial killer nicknamed the Samaritan. Tricky part is, Kate already caught him.
Either Kate made a deadly error, or she’s got a copycat on her hands. Paired with homicide detective Theo Mazur, she quickly realizes this murder is more twisted than it first appeared. Then a second body is found, the mode of death identical to a different case that Kate thought she’d put behind her.
Now Kate and Detective Mazur aren’t just working a homicide; the investigative pair is facing a formidable enemy who knows Kate intimately. While Mazur is personally trying to protect Kate, the closer they are drawn to the killer, the clearer it becomes that in this terrifying game, there is only one rule: don’t believe everything you see.
Excerpt
Mazur nodded toward her half-eaten burger. “Finish up.”
“This is good,” Kate said. “Thank you.”
“I’m still getting to know the area, and the best burger joints are hidden. Haven’t found a pizza place that rivals what we had in Chicago. You’re from this area, do you know any?”
She picked up a fry. “My restaurant information is outdated.”
“You said your mother lives in town.”
She arched a brow. “Why the curiosity about my family?”
He smiled. “It’s called making conversation, Kate. You must have learned about that in your volumes of profiling books.”
If she noticed he had dropped her formal title, she didn’t seem to mind. “I skipped that lecture.”
He feigned shock. “Oh my, was that a joke?”
“No. It’s a fact.”
He laughed. “I don’t doubt it.”
They ate in silence for several minutes before she said, “We should talk to Martin Sanchez. There’s more behind what we’re seeing.”
He wiped his hands on a paper napkin. “He can wait another ten or fifteen minutes. Eat.”
She bit into the burger. “Right.”
“So what made you choose the FBI, Kate?” he asked.
She set the burger down and wiped her hands on a napkin. “I was working on my PhD when law enforcement approached my linguistics professor with a letter from a stalker. They asked him to read it. He brought me in to consult, and based on the observations we made, the cops were able to catch the guy. The FBI was recruiting so I applied. I’m now a part of a team, and we’re sent out to investigate complicated cases.”
“You like it?”
“You know how it goes. There are times when you are witness to man’s inhumanity to man. Other times when the rush is so exciting, you’re on a high for days.”
“I hear ya.”
“Why’d you become a cop?”
“Couldn’t imagine myself in a nine to five. And I wanted to make a difference.” He studied her. “Did you choose the FBI because of your father’s murder?”
She stilled, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if she’d answer. “That was certainly part of the equation. His death devastated our family.”
He heard the tremor in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
For an instant, she closed her eyes. She then balled the remainder of her burger up in the wrapper. “I blame myself.”
“Why?”
“I went to high school with the shooter, William Bauldry. We were in chess club together and got to be good friends.”
“What was Bauldry like?”
“He was smart, funny, and very charismatic. I wouldn’t call him a popular kid, but all the popular kids liked him.”
“And you dated him?”
“As you may have noticed, I’m a geek. This trait is an asset now but wasn’t so much in high school. He befriended me, which I found very flattering. When he asked me out on a date, I couldn’t resist. I thought I was the luckiest girl in San Antonio.”
Mazur was silent. “Why did you break up with him?”
“That niceness he projected to the world changed when we were alone. He became too controlling. He wanted constant affirmations from me, and I couldn’t keep doing it.”
“So you broke up.”
“Yes. He was furious. At first my parents didn’t understand why I broke it off. William was so very charming, but when I insisted this was the right move for me, they backed me up. When he called, my parents ran interference. When calling didn’t work, he wrote me dozens of letters. The letters all seemed benign at the time, but if I were reading them now, I could point to all the warning signs. I wish to hell I had seen them then.”
“You were a kid, how could you?”
“He shot and killed my father. I cannot forgive myself for not seeing the warning signs.”
“What about your mother? They can’t blame you.”
“Mom’s support never wavered, which made dealing with it all that much harder. My brother, Mitchell, blamed me for Dad’s death. Honestly, I could deal with that better than Mom’s understanding.”
Mazur was silent for a moment. “Bauldry clearly had mental-health issues. That’s not your fault.”
She shook her head and tipped her chin up. “I’ve told my story to other victims of violent crime before. The hope to create a bond and to show them I understand. I’m usually good at distancing myself from the story and the words. But being back in San Antonio is making it difficult to keep that distance.”
Author Biography
New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Mary Burton is the highly praised author of twenty-eight published romance and suspense novels and five novellas. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three miniature dachshunds.
Author Social Media Links
Website: http://www.maryburton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maryburtonfanpage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryBurtonBooks
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15020.Mary_Burton
Giveaway
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/07c2363f159
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